So, Nola had her vet visit today. Unfortunately, we did not leave the vet's office with good news.
If you have not kept up with things via the forum or through conversations with me, here is a little background information:
Nola, over the past couple of months, has had quite a few disconcerting personality changes. She has gotten quite a bit more anxious and never fully relaxes any more. She has had several episodes of major confusion and forgetfulness. She has been very lethargic and has lost interest in playing, toys, chews, etc. She has also gotten very clingy and spends most of her time (when I am home) curled up either at my feet or beside me on the couch (she never has curled up at my feet before, and the couch buddy thing used to be very sporadic and for very short periods of time).
The biggest concern for me has been the forgetfulness. Not only does she forget little stuff, like that I am home or to eat, but several times over the past couple of weeks she has forgotten how to make herself sit or lay down. It has been like she just forgot how to make her body do those motions and it takes her about 20 minutes of walking around and standing to remember how to sit/lay down.
It has completely broken my heart to see my happy-go-lucky fur face turn into an anxious neurological mess. And it breaks my heart even more to know that there may not be anything I can do to help her.
So the vet visit:
We went to the vet's office this morning. And thankfully Nola LOVES the vet. She is a very wonderful person who is understanding and very good with dogs. We had to wait in the outside waiting room for about 10 minutes while they got our room ready for us. There was a VERY friendly kitty hanging out and Nola was a very good girl and said hi several times and they even rubbed noses. This was super cool for me to watch, because normally Nola wants to eat every kitty that she meets. The kitty then proceeded to climb into my lap and sit there begging for attention until we were called back. Nola was fine with that because she was paying attention to the birds that were in the waiting room. (The vet's office is filled with tons of rescue animals, birds, rabbits, kitties, little yappy dogs... The little animals are all caged so as to not get eaten.)
Once we were called back, Nola got weighed. She has gained 3 pounds despite more exercise and less food and treats. We hung out in the room for a bit while I got Nola very excited about the vet coming in to visit with her. She was all psyched when the door opened... But it was not the vet... It was a MAN! Then of course, Nola scurried under the chair to hide from the scary man (who, was, in fact, the vet tech). After a couple of minutes of the vet tech and I sitting on the floor, Nola came out and met him. She then got told how beautiful she was and had her temperature taken. She was running a low grade fever.
After the vet tech left, I got out a beef rib for Nola to chew on, but she ignored it and looked out the floor length window. She did, however, enjoy the cookies that I brought while we waited. After a few minutes, the vet came in and let us know that her fecal sample was negative (she had been eating cat poop, so I wanted to make sure she was worm-free). We also talked for a bit about everything that had been going on, and she agreed that we should do some blood work and get a urine sample. So, Nola had some blood taken, she was very good and only squirmed a little.
After the blood draw, Nola got to take a walk as a reward for being so good... However, I did have to interrupt her potty break by shoving a plastic cup underneath her. She was NOT okay with that. She walked around with her tail between her legs for the rest of the walk. Poor Nola.
On the way back in, Nola met a HUGE chocolate lab. Unfortunately, the lab was not very well behaved and his owner was having a very hard time keeping control over him. Nola was a little overwhelmed by his size and his exuberance, so I had to pick her up to take her back to our room.
We had to wait about 45 minutes for the blood work and urinalysis results to come back. During this time, Nola hung out under the chair I sat on the floor beside her playing a game on my phone. It kept me calm, therefore keeping her calm. She ended up snoozing for most of the wait.
When the vet got back, she had some bad news. All of Nola's blood work came back normal, even her thyroid function. The only abnormality is that she has a mild UTI, for which the vet prescribed Clavamox. The UTI does not explain any of her symptoms except maybe the velcro dog symdrome.
The vet and I sat and talked things over for about 20 minutes or so, while she let me know what she thought and why she thought it. While we were talking, the vet noticed Nola kind of space out and go through one of her confused spells. The vet explained that Nola's behaviour and personality changes seem to be what is called complex partial seizures. These types of seizures are usually the result of a brain tumor, which could explain a lot of the other symptoms that Nola has been presenting. The only definitive diagnosis would be to have an MRI. Since the MRI is quite expensive and would be pretty stressful for Nola, we have opted to not do that at this time. Especially since a definitive diagnosis would not change how we handle things.
For now, the vet has decided to put her on a low dose of phenobarbital. This will raise the threshold for the seizures and will hopefully lessen her symptoms. We are going to give this a 30 day trial period and note any changes, for better or for worse. We will then go from there.
Nola was such a great girl while we were at the vet's but she was most definitely VERY ready to head home. She was so ready that she ignored another kitty that was in the reception area and tried to pull me to the door. We did have to wait for the phenobarbital prescription to get filled before I could pay (OMG that was expensive!). One of the little yappy dogs did come out to say hello to Nola while we were waiting. It was interesting to see them interact, because Nola has never been around an adult dog that was smaller than her. She did not really interact much with the other dog, but kept watching her rather suspiciously. It was rather comical.
Once we finished up our business, I took her on a quick walk outside the office and then we headed home. She was pretty tired and zonked out for the ride. When we got home, she was immediately accosted by Bella and was sniffed pretty much from nose to tail. Once Bella decided she was okay, Nola drank some water, grabbed a mouthful of kibble and promptly curled up in her bed while I got ready to go to work.
It was a pretty stressful day for her, but she is now snuggled up next to me on the couch.
I, on the other hand, am doing everything I can to think positively about all of this. My silly little goofball baby either has a seizure disorder, brain tumor, or both. I love this dog more than anything in the world (with the exception of Bella, of course, whom I love equally as much), and it really does break my heart to know that if the phenobarbital does not help, there may be nothing that I can do to fix my girl.
The only thing that I can hope for is to keep her as happy as possible for as long as possible.
